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Veselý V-42
|barrel= |weight= |justweight= |width= |height= |magazine=60-round detachable tandem box magazine |cycle=Selectable: 900 – 1000rpm |effective= |range= |usedby= |velocity= }}The Veselý V-42 is a prototype submachine gun that was designed by Czech engineer Josef Veselý and manufactured by British company VAP Holdings Ltd. History The V-42 was initially designed in 1940 by Josef Veselý, a former Brno engineer who fled to the United Kingdom after the invasion of Czechoslovakia by Germany in 1938. Veselý sent blueprints for the design to the British Army's Ordnance Board, who rejected the weapon on the basis that the Lanchester submachine gun had just been adopted and they were not looking for new designs. Nevertheless, Veselý made a working prototype in 1941 (known as the V-41) and submitted it to the Ordnance Board in October 1942. Trials took place at the Royal Small Arms Factory at Enfield in November. It failed a mud test but otherwise functioned well. The overall view of the Ordnance Board was that the V-41 was a quality weapon and should be considered for further trials. Subsequently, the Royal Navy trialed the V-42 onboard the HMS Excellent, but their opinion was that the recoil was too strong and the fire rate was too high. The Navy rejected the V-42. In 1943, British Graphitised Metals Co. Ltd invested in the V-42 and funded the production of further prototypes. The production rights were given to VAP Holdings Ltd and by June that year, six prototypes had been produced - three regular V-42s and three V-43s, a variant designed for paratroopers. The V-43 differed only in that it had a folding stock. In 1944, four of the prototypes were sold to the Ordnance Board and trials took place in Pendine, Wales and Valcartier, Canada. Again the weapons performed well but the design itself was considered too complex and was rejected in favor of the Patchett machine carbine and the BSA machine carbine. Design Details At first glance, the V-42 may look like a strangely undersized assault rifle of sorts; however, the V-42 does have a variety of interesting features. One of the weapon's notable features was a rather crude rate-of-fire adjustment device; by engaging or isolating a buffer spring located near the bolt, the weapon's rate of fire could be adjusted, although in both cases the rate of fire was still rather high (900 and 1000 RPM respectively). However, the most notable feature of the weapon was its magazine. The weapon used a sixty-round tandem magazine which held thirty-one rounds in the front column and the remaining twenty-nine in the rear. A mechanism is situated in the front magwell that depresses the rear column below the travel of the bolt until the front column was empty, at which point an interlocking lever would be released and allowed the rear column to feed into the weapon. The V-42 also has provisions for a spike bayonet; a spike bayonet can be mounted on the barrel of the weapon. References *[http://www.forgottenweapons.com/submachine-guns/vesely-v-42/ Article on Forgotten Weapons] Category:Submachine guns Category:Prototypes